


in case it is the last time that we might be exactly like we were

by arachnistar



Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, season 5
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-25
Updated: 2018-03-25
Packaged: 2019-04-07 18:28:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14086959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arachnistar/pseuds/arachnistar
Summary: “Ok, maybe I forgot about the pizza.”“And that’s exactly why you had a rat living in your desk.”“Algernon was the best desk partner.”Amy gets the promotion and has to move desks.





	in case it is the last time that we might be exactly like we were

**Author's Note:**

> Kicking out my writer's block with a short drabble set in season 5. This was written before we learned what Amy's promotion would entail so who knows if this will still be canon-compliant in a couple weeks. 
> 
> Title from "When We Were Young" by Adele - the song has little to no relation to what happens in the fic and is sadder than anything here but I like the lyrics.

The photograph and her nameplate are the last things to go in the box and then Detective Amy Santiago’s desk is exactly as it was before she moved in.

Even cleaner; one of her earliest memories in the precinct was removing the graffiti someone had penned on the side of the desk that the previous desk occupant had never bothered to remove. Jake had laughed when she’d first taken out the rubbing alcohol (“don’t bother, it’s been there forever.” and when she didn’t stop, “everyone knows you can’t get rid of Sharpie. that’s why they call it a _permanent_ marker”) but had quickly fallen silent when the graffiti actually disappeared under her diligent work.

Amy smiles at the memory and the way she’d turned to him after, smug at having proven him wrong for the first time. They’ve come so far since then.

Her gaze fixes on the photo of the two of them. It’ll be strange to not have him right across from her, to not be able to look up and see him there or hear his laughter while she’s filling out paperwork. She knows it won’t do anything to their relationship, is confident in them and the promise around her finger, but she’ll miss this arrangement.  

“Do you think they’ll need to deep-clean my desk to get it back to mint condition?”

Her smile cracks into a full-blown grin and she turns to look at her fiancé. “They’ll need hazmat suits.”

“It’s not that bad.” Jake glances at his desk – which, to his credit (and the influence of Holt and Amy), has become cleaner over the years, though still cluttered with objects – and then back at her. “Okay, but it’s nowhere near Hitchcock and Scully levels of contamination.”

She cringes and then nods. “I’ll give you that.”  

“Thank you.” He says, voice serious, before his eyes light up with glee. “Remember the Great Crumb War?”

“How could I forget?” She says, a laugh huffing out from her throat. “You got crumbs _everywhere_.”

“It was an accident.”

She rolls her eyes, thinking back to the Peralta and Santiago they had been back then. Two months into their partnership, some of the working difficulties just beginning to smooth themselves out as they discovered they might actually be a great team, no idea of what was to come or that years down the road she would be happier than she could ever have imagined because of this man – and then walking in to donut crumbs littering her desk one afternoon, threatening their stability, and Jake insisting there had been a breeze from the open window.

“It wasn’t.”

Jake shrugs, completely unabashed. “The first time it was an accident. After you yelled at me, it was all on purpose. You have the cutest pout.” He laughs when she shoots him an exaggerated pout, her lower lip sticking out. “See? You just proved my point. Adorable. Anyway, you threw away my snacks.”  

Amy drops the pout and smirks. “I got you back good.”

“It was my sacred snack stash. You weren’t even supposed to know about it.”

“It was an open bag of chips, three chocolate bars, and a half-eaten slice of pizza.”  

“Sacred. Snack. Stash.” He punctuates each word with a finger jab and when he finishes, she laughs and he smiles. “Ok, maybe I forgot about the pizza.”

“And that’s exactly why you had a rat living in your desk.”

“Algernon was the best desk partner.”

Amy shakes her head. She still doesn’t get how Jake was okay sharing his desk with a rodent, but then she also doesn’t understand how he can be so blasé about schedules and that’s okay. Her heart feels full, brimming with fond memories spent at these desks, of pranks and cases and late nights sharing take-out and ideas, of stolen glances and shared looks and Jake always there (except when he wasn’t, when he couldn’t be – but she isn’t going to think about those days right now, they’re over and done with).

“I may have been a bit impressed you knew what _Flowers of Algernon_ was.” She admits.

Jake grins and raises his chin. “Well, I don’t like to brag but it was one of fifteen books I’d read at the time.”

She laughs. She almost wants to stay in this moment forever, doesn’t want to think about how Jake won’t be sitting across from her at work anymore. They can be here, laughing and reminiscing, just a while longer.

“Ames,” she stops laughing, catching the sincere note in his voice, the way his eyes have gone soft with emotion, “you were the best desk partner.”

She smiles, bright and teasing. “Better than Algernon?”

“It’s a tough competition, but, yeah.” He pauses, cocks his head, beams his most luminous smile, “Way better.”

Amy’s about to return the sentiment when she notices the glint of tears in his eyes. “Jake,” she steps closer, “are you crying?”

“I’m -” He scrubs a hand over his eyes and then blinks rapidly several times. “No.”

Her hand comes up to squeeze his shoulder and then run soothingly down his arm. “I’m just moving to a different part of the building.”

“I know.”

“We’ll still see each other all the time.”

“Duh.” His eyes flicker down - to her left hand, where the ring sits, she’s gotten used to its presence there but her heart still flips every time Jake looks at it - and then he grins. “I’m not upset. I mean, I’ll miss seeing your face across from me all the time and no one better will ever sit in that seat again, but it’s not about that. It’s - I’m proud of you, Ames. You’re a sergeant. A sergeant!”

The awed way he says sergeant makes her insides warm and her heart race, it’s real, she’s a sergeant, it’s amazing and terrifying and one step closer to her ultimate dream of becoming captain, a dream she gets to live with this incredible man in her life.

Amy leans over to kiss him, her hands cradling his face. It’s brief; they’re still in the middle of the bullpen and it’s still the middle of the working day after all, though if there was any time to passionately kiss her fiancé where everyone could see, it would be now.

“I’ll miss having you across from me too.”

“You can always come by and I’ll kick out whoever’s sitting there to make room for you.” Even with the way he grins like it’s a joke, his eyes are still soft and tender, affected by her words and probably serious about the offer.

Her eyebrows lift. “And risk them filing a complaint?”

“Babe, I’d risk everything for you. Even paperwork.”

“Would you risk lower back pain to help me carry some boxes to my new desk?”

He barks a laugh. “I’m at your service, Sergeant Santiago.”

After he picks up one of the boxes, Amy places a hand on his arm to stop him from walking off, places another kiss on his lips for the way he said her new title and the thrill it shot through her, and says, “You were the best desk partner too, Detective Peralta.”

**Author's Note:**

> If you want to chat with me about b99 or jake/amy or anything else, you can find me on [Tumblr](http://proofthatihaveaheart.tumblr.com/).


End file.
